1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a graphical user interface (GUI) for a computing system, and, more particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus, system and method for making available applications, including at least one foreign application, to at least one native operating system associated with the GUI.
2. Description of the Background
A graphical user interface (GUI) is a well-understood and long established mechanism whereby a user gains access to computing data, commands, applications, information, network protocols, outcomes, files, and the like. In typical embodiments, an operating system (OS) is provided in a computing system, in order to interact with the underlying hardware of the computing system and to thereby enable operation of the aforementioned data, commands, applications, information, network protocols, outcomes, and the like. Such an OS is typically provided with a GUI to enable the user to most efficiently make use of the offerings of the OS.
Currently, many OS-GUIs emulate a “desktop”, wherein multiple applications, data, information, protocols, and outcomes, such as documents, pictures, and audio, files, and the like, are visually presented to the user in an identifiable and recognizable manner, such as through the use of graphical identifiers called “icons.” As such, the desktop is the main display screen of a typical OS-GUI. Simply put, one or more icons is provided in an organized fashion on the screen, preferably with icons broken down into multiple, and sometimes exploding, “windows” for improved organization on the open “desktop,” wherein each window may also be represented by an icon which may explode or otherwise activate, and wherein each icon indicates to the user, typically graphically, what item (or items) is represented by that icon. Icons are typically selectable using a keystroke or a mouse to activate a cursor, for example.
In certain OS-GUIs, icons may be selectively provided along only a portion of the screen, such as in order to make preferred or frequently used icons easier to find and/or execute. This is herein referred to as a “tile bar,” and it may simplify use of the GUI, such as wherein multiple files or applications, typically present in separate windows, are needed to perform a task, and wherein the icons representing all such multiple files or applications may be placed in one convenient place for access, namely the tile bar. In some GUIs, such icons may be uniquely selected by each user for placement into this tile bar, such as to allow a preferred user experience upon use of the GUI. However, even in such embodiments, the tile bar is not truly personalized, at least because, although the user may select the tiles for that user's tile bar, the information accessed by each icon placed on the tile is the same for each user. Additionally, the addition of icons to the tile bar may eventually cause the tile bar to be difficult to read or to become cluttered.
Further, programmatically, the selection of an icon using a cursor typically requires a “launch,” wherein the selected icon is “exploded,” as discussed above, into the selected application, file, new window, or the like. This is typically the case whether an icon is selected from the desktop or from the tile bar. A “launch” generally takes unwanted time, in part because processing must be performed in order to “launch” the icon into the item to which it is to be exploded, and such a launch necessitates execution of computing code associated with the application, file or new window.
Thus, a need exists for a tile bar that alleviates issues with regard to launch of icons, personalization of the tile bar, and identification of icons on the tile bar proximate to a cursor.